Dark Side of the Forest

It was evening. Huan Wei and Yuchi Meizhen had traveled for hours. The young man was hungry and tired. She had fed herself but had given him nothing. Huan Wei's hatred for her was growing.

The forest was colder at night. Most of the natural monsters must have slept. Because they hadn't heard any growls or roars for a while.

The light from the full moon in the sky did not reach the ground. The tree branches were so thick that they didn't even let the light through. Yuchi Meizhen held her sword in one hand, covered with lightning bolts, and used it like a lantern.

They followed the map for a while longer. Huan Wei had torn a piece of his own clothes and wrapped it around the wound on his leg. He was lucky to find a water source before wrapping it. He had been able to clean the wound, but he would still need proper medical treatment. At least it didn't hurt as much as before.

Their journey finally came to an end when they started to hear the natural monsters again. The girl stopped where she was and looked straight ahead. Huan Wei was also looking at the road, illuminated by her sword. He saw the iron fence and the gravestones behind it.

"There you are," she said. The happiness of reaching her goal was written all over her face.

Huan Wei felt strange. Although the light was low, he could see how old the cemetery was. Many of the tombstones were broken. Even the metal fences had large gaps in some places. Even the golden-eyed wolf they encountered could easily pass through these gaps. However, this didn't seem to worry Yuchi Meizhen.

"Well, Huan Wei," she said as she turned towards the young man, "I have finally reached my goal, now it is your turn." The lightning on the sword disappeared. All the light had gone out. There were no trees in the area of the cemetery, so the moonlight illuminated it a little, but there were clouds in front of it.

"What do you mean it's your turn?"

The girl smiled. "The cemetery is across the street. If you can survive until I get out, I'll drop you off near the town."

"Wait." The young man's heartbeat quickened. Was this girl really planning to leave him alone in the middle of this darkness? "There are natural monsters everywhere. You can't leave me here. I'll come inside. It's not like I'm going to steal anything from you."

"Yeah, you wouldn't dare steal anything even if you were greedy, but hey, if I got here at night, it's because of you." The girl seemed to be having fun. "If you die, there's no one to look for you anyway. I'm sure your father will be happy."

Huan Wei clenched his teeth and fists. He was shaking with rage. How could he survive with natural monsters coming towards him? With a kitchen knife?

"At least give me a decent weapon."

Yuchi Meizhen laughed. Huan Wei's nerves were getting the better of him. She continued to laugh for a few seconds. "You want my sword? Sure, you can have it."

She held out her sword towards the young man. Huan Wei saw her expression and didn't even bother to reach out his hand. It was clear she wasn't going to give it to him.

"What's wrong? You don't want it? It's your choice."

Yuchi Meizhen started walking towards the cemetery. She had left the young man there, but he had no intention of leaving her. He immediately chased after her.

After a few steps, she turned back and pushed Huan Wei with one hand. Huan Wei was thrown back several meters with unexpected force. He fell to the ground and rolled, barely able to stop. This was definitely not the first stage of Body Tempering. This girl was stronger than Huan Chao. She should have at least reached Tier 3 Body Tempering.

"If you come after me, I'll cut off your legs to keep you here. Play the game according to the rules. Stay alive until I come back." The girl turned around again and jumped over the metal fence into the cemetery. She was heading towards the small hut ahead.

When Huan Wei got up from the floor, he immediately picked up his knife. "Damn it!" he thought. There was no way he could survive fighting until she returned. If he entered the cemetery, his legs would be cut off. He had to find a safe place.

He looked around quickly. He was looking for a place to hide. So he could wait until Yuchi Meizhen returned and set up his plan. "Who am I kidding? It's impossible to come up with a plan in this situation. I lack the most essential thing. I can't even move 20 meters without her help. I have no choice but to wait for her. Maybe I can convince her not to kill me."

It angered him that he was still in the Traveler stage. It would have been easier if he had at least chosen a path. Now he had no choice but to wait for her.

He chose a tree he could climb on. He had taken a few steps towards it when a pair of eyes he saw among the branches dissuaded him from the idea. The trees were dangerous.

He looked at the rocks, but they were too close to the trees. Besides, how hard could it be for a natural monster to climb a rock?

"There is only one way out." Huan Wei approached the cemetery with careful steps. A twig he stepped on made his heart sink. He looked around. He could see a lot of moving sparkles among the trees. Monsters seemed to be surrounding him.

He immediately jumped through a gap in the metal fence. He walked past the broken tombstones and moved through the shadows, trusting in the darkness of the night. He couldn't see far anyway. Without Yuchi Meizhen's lightning element, it was too dark. The moonlight was not enough. The girl had already entered the hut ahead.

Huan Wei moved silently towards the hut. He thought he could bring her into the fight in case of danger. If she killed the monsters, Huan Wei would live. If he could convince the girl. Still, the chances of convincing her were better than the chances of fighting and surviving.

Soon a large hyena came out of the trees. Its fur was black as night. Its bright eyes were locked on Huan Wei. In the blink of an eye, several more hyenas appeared from different directions. It didn't take a sage to realize that the energy flowing through them was stronger than the energy flowing through Huan Wei.

Huan Wei swallowed. He held his knife tightly. The hyenas entered the cemetery through the gaps in the fence and began to approach him at a slow pace.

Before Huan Wei could reach the hut, they had blocked that road too. Caught in the midst of the beasts, the young man started to back up as they stared at him and drooled, but he was completely surrounded.

He had no idea what to do. The circle was getting narrower and narrower. He might have an idea against one, but there were almost ten of them. Their fangs were growing with appetite as they looked at Huan Wei.

"Calm down," he said, as if they would understand. "There's no need for this, okay? We'll leave soon."

Of course they didn't care. They kept getting closer. Finally, when the circle became too tight, one of them charged at the young man.

Huan Wei didn't know what to do when he saw the hyena running towards him. He wanted to reach for the dagger, but he knew it would be useless. When the beast jumped on him, he reflexively threw himself to the ground. The hyena ran over him. Instead of turning around and attacking again, it returned to its place in the herd.

Huan Wei stood up immediately. He was breathing very fast. His eyes were wide open. His left hand hurt like a dagger was stabbing it. He held his aching hand without taking his eyes off the hyenas.

They were circling around him as if mocking him. The young man kept turning his head to look at them all. The feeling that they were going to attack him from out of sight frightened him.

Another hyena ran towards him. This one didn't seem to be able to jump. Huan Wei made a sudden decision to run towards a nearby tombstone. As the monster reached him, he stood on the tombstone and tried to jump over it. Perhaps that was the worst decision he could have made.

The hyena jumped too. It jumped better than Huan Wei. It bit the young man in the air on the leg and pulled him down. It had bitten right into his injured leg.

Huan Wei screamed in pain and tried to free his leg, but with every movement the hyena's long fangs dug deep into his flesh. As he tried to crawl back in fear, other hyenas started running towards him.

The young man screamed in fear. He could not stand still because of the pain in his leg. Realizing that he was going to die here, with a last effort he raised his knife and thrust it into the monster's head.

When the kitchen knife met the hyena's skull, it bounced back without even piercing the skin. The young man felt like he was trying to stab iron with his knife. His face was red from the fangs that were now cracking his bone.

As his breathing became labored, he attacked again and again with the knife, fearing for his life. Each blow bounced back. It was a hopeless situation. Until one of his strokes hit the monster in the eye.

With all his might, the knife stabbed deep into the monster's eye. The hyena suddenly let go of his leg and recoiled in pain. The others stopped running at the young man.

The wounded hyena staggered a few steps, groaning, then fell over and lay motionless. The blood from its eye ran down its face like a thin river.

Huan Wei held his injured leg with both hands. It was hard to breathe. It was like the heavy beatings he had received from his father. The beatings that forced him to lie in bed with a doctor. But the pain was much sharper.

As the other hyenas smelled the blood, they looked even more ferocious. When they pounced on the young man again, there was nothing Huan Wei could do. He raised his arms and shielded himself.

Just as the hyenas were about to reach him, they suddenly stopped and looked at the hut. Huan Wei did not see this. He was busy preparing himself for death by blocking his field of vision with his arms, but when he felt an ominous force enveloping the entire cemetery, he lowered his arms. Now he too was looking at the hut.

He knew this feeling that burned his throat. It made breathing even more difficult for him. There was a pressure on him as if his body was being crushed.

All the hyenas ran away without looking back. Huan Wei crawled backwards using his hands. He couldn't stand up. His leg was miserable. He leaned his back against a broken tombstone.

At that moment, Yuchi Meizhen smashed through the wall of the hut and flew out, rolling for meters on the ground. When she finally stopped, she stood up, supporting herself with her arms. She was scratched in many places.

Huan Wei wasn't even surprised. His leg was badly injured and he was losing a lot of blood. He tore another piece of clothing and tied it over the wound as he had seen the doctor do. He tightened the knot as much as possible. He intended to reduce the blood loss.

But as the ominous feeling grew, he raised his head and looked towards the hut. Just then a bull-like creature tore through another part of the hut and came out. Its red eyes were terrifying. It was about two meters tall. Its skin looked like it had been burned red. Its humanoid body was extremely large and burning in places. It swung one of its sharp claws and the hut shattered.

Huan Wei was speechless. He even forgot to tend to his wound. He didn't even look at his left hand, which hurt like it was breaking. He just stared at this creature with his mouth open in fear. When the monster raised its head and roared towards the sky, the flames on its body increased frighteningly for a moment, then returned to their original intensity.

Yuchi Meizhen's sword was covered in lightning again. She quickly swallowed another pill from her ring. She looked angry. It was clear that she had not expected such a thing.

"The nearest Corrupted Region is thousands of miles from here. How can there be a demon in this forest!"